THE BATTLE OF THE REPTILES 167 



the snake of his cruelly gotten prey. With the 

 aid of two sticks this was effected ; but not with- 

 out some difficulty, for the snake had given the 

 lizard a double wrap besides tying his own body 

 into a classical single knot. 



You may imagine what was presently my sur- 

 prise when I saw this lizard, now unwound, and 

 whom I had thought long ago dead, quick as a 

 flash spring backwards, and, righting himself, 

 dash at the snake and grasp him again just 

 behind the head. 



Talk about being game; here was no coward 

 of any stripe. He leaped literally from the coils 

 of death back into the struggle. And he held 

 onto his opponent as tenaciously as a snapping 

 turtle. Though the snake now did his best to 

 get away he doubtless had had quite enough 

 of it the lizard held on with his iron grip and 

 even allowed himself to be dragged along by his 

 foe, who was now making his way toward a 

 near-by hole beneath the surface. Not to be 

 daunted when even this narrow opening was 

 entered, he permitted the snake to draw him 

 beneath the surface. When nothing but the 

 zebra-striped tail was protruding above the 



